Elon Musk's flaming Twitter fiasco is what the US will look like if MAGA wins the midterms
2 years, 2 months ago

Elon Musk's flaming Twitter fiasco is what the US will look like if MAGA wins the midterms

Salon  

Last week, President Joe Biden gave another national speech warning Americans that "democracy is on the ballot this year." The majority of Republicans running for office in the midterms are "election deniers," which is the media's euphemism for flat-out enemies of democracy. Republicans say they wish to "make America great again," but in fact, their plan is to end the very democracy that conferred whatever greatness America ever had. For Musk, it's Twitter, a platform he claims he wishes to "save" but which he will likely destroy in record time. Even Musk's dumb plan to replace Twitter verification with a pay-to-play "blue check" program feels evocative of our larger problem of watching once-trusted institutions — such as the Supreme Court — being hollowed out and refilled with authoritarian hacks who have no fealty to facts, good faith or reason.

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History of this topic

Trump in danger of losing the battle for MAGA to 'President Musk': analyst
6 days, 5 hours ago

Trump in danger of losing the battle for MAGA to 'President Musk': analyst

Raw Story  

Donald Trump could very well be in a battle for control of the MAGA movement because he has lost the plot on how social media works while Elon Musk –– who has his ear –– hasn't. That is the opinion of political analyst Andrew Eggers writing for the Bulwark who asserted that, while Trump is repeating his "greatest hits" on …

Maga meltdown as Elon Musk threatens 'war like you've never seen' with Republicans: Billionaire defends visas for skilled migrants
Trending News
1 week, 5 days ago

Maga meltdown as Elon Musk threatens 'war like you've never seen' with Republicans: Billionaire defends visas for skilled migrants

Daily Mail  

Elon Musk has threatened to 'go to war' with MAGA republicans after he defended visas for skilled foreigners. Musk has clapped back however, writing on his social media platform X that: 'The reason I'm in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Elon …

‘Contemptible fools’: Elon Musk escalates MAGA rift
Trending News
1 week, 5 days ago

‘Contemptible fools’: Elon Musk escalates MAGA rift

Raw Story  

Division brewing inside MAGA world showed no signs of slowing Friday after tech billionaire Elon Musk called out a segment of the movement as “contemptible fools” who should be plucked out of the Republican Party. The escalation in the ongoing feud between right-wing businessmen and the MAGA activist class over foreign visas came in the form of a social media …

‘How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter’ authors say platform is ‘a tool for controlling political discourse’
3 months, 3 weeks ago

‘How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter’ authors say platform is ‘a tool for controlling political discourse’

LA Times  

Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter is the subject of a new book, “Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter,” out Sept. 17. On the Shelf Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter By Kate Conger and Ryan Mac Penguin Press: 480 pages, $32 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose …

Musk is an arsonist with a huge box of matches – we need political leaders to stand up
5 months ago

Musk is an arsonist with a huge box of matches – we need political leaders to stand up

The Independent  

Let me remind you of a different age, not so very long ago. In a fascinating interview with New York Times journalist Ezra Klein, he recently spoke of the dangers inherent in Donald Trump’s masterful ability to stir up hatred between communities and strip away the “thin veil of society” that holds us together. And we regress back, you know, …

Elon Musk has historic power to influence elections – can we stop him winning it for Trump?
5 months, 2 weeks ago

Elon Musk has historic power to influence elections – can we stop him winning it for Trump?

The Independent  

Think of it as a Venn diagram. Sacks, a tech entrepreneur like Musk, has been broadcasting pro-Trump fantasies to his nearly 1 million Twitter/X followers, including describing Kamala Harris’s candidacy as a “coup” and implying that she is the puppet of George Soros. “The algorithm now artificially boosted Musk’s tweets by a factor of 1,000,” reported The Verge, “a constant …

Commentary: Elon Musk bought Twitter just to break it. With a new war, we’re paying the price
1 year, 2 months ago

Commentary: Elon Musk bought Twitter just to break it. With a new war, we’re paying the price

LA Times  

It’s been nearly a year since Elon Musk acquired Twitter, and more than the average landlord, he’s made some changes to the storefront: replacing the social media platform’s cheerful winged mascot with an ominous “X,” stripping all but paying subscribers of verified status, and turning it from a frenetic crossroads of breaking news and opinion to a playground for falsehoods …

EXPLAINER: How Elon Musk is changing what you see on Twitter
2 years ago

EXPLAINER: How Elon Musk is changing what you see on Twitter

Associated Press  

What you’re seeing in your feed on Twitter is changing. The social media platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, has been trying to prove through giving selected journalists access to some of the company’s internal communications dubbed “The Twitter Files” that officials from the previous leadership team allegedly suppressed right-wing voices. It’s likely the reductions will force Twitter to concentrate content …

White House Says It's Keeping 'Track Of' What's Happening At Twitter Under Elon Musk
2 years, 1 month ago

White House Says It's Keeping 'Track Of' What's Happening At Twitter Under Elon Musk

ABP News  

New York: The White House is keeping a "close eye" on Twitter under Elon Musk and will not allow the platform to incite violence against individual communities, as the world's richest man again vouched for free speech. During a media briefing, a White House spokesperson said late on Monday that the relevant authorities are "keeping track of" what is going …

Musk calls free speech 'battle for future' & an update on 'suppression files'
2 years, 1 month ago

Musk calls free speech 'battle for future' & an update on 'suppression files'

Hindustan Times  

Twitter boss Elon Musk on Tuesday rebranded his commitment to "free speech" on the microblogging site as a "battle for the future generation", saying if that was lost then tyranny would make its way. In his latest tweet, Musk was responding to journalist Colin Wright who was criticising the "rabid obsession for complete narrative control" by "left-wing media" and big …

Column: Elon Musk’s engagement with the far right on Twitter is out of control
2 years, 1 month ago

Column: Elon Musk’s engagement with the far right on Twitter is out of control

LA Times  

Elon Musk hasn’t shown any awareness of the damage caused to Twitter by his behavior. “Far left San Francisco/Berkeley views have been propagated to the world via Twitter.No more thumb on the scale!” — Elon Musk Although Musk deleted some of his more incendiary tweets, including his apparent endorsement of the conspiracy theory regarding the attack on Paul Pelosi, they …

What does Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter point towards?
2 years, 1 month ago

What does Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter point towards?

New Indian Express  

Twitter users may want to worry more about their data spilling to everyone than about it leaking to Musk. Twitter already has a poor track record when it comes to security, and Musk may end up firing staff members who are crucial to preserving the safeguards the company has in place that work. Further, Musk plans to take Twitter private, …

What does Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter point towards?
2 years, 1 month ago

What does Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter point towards?

New Indian Express  

Twitter users may want to worry more about their data spilling to everyone than about it leaking to Musk. Twitter already has a poor track record when it comes to security, and Musk may end up firing staff members who are crucial to preserving the safeguards the company has in place that work. Further, Musk plans to take Twitter private, …

Twitter and Elon Musk: Nightmare for Left, petrified of free speech
2 years, 2 months ago

Twitter and Elon Musk: Nightmare for Left, petrified of free speech

Op India  

The Global Left is living its worst nightmare. News article by The New York Times Responding to the article by The New York Times, Elon Musk tweeted, “This is fake – I did *not* tweet out a link to The New York Times!”. If Elon Musk believes that all news has a bias, the platform now may not be allowed …

Column: Elon Musk takes Twitter exactly where we thought he would — into the sewer
2 years, 2 months ago

Column: Elon Musk takes Twitter exactly where we thought he would — into the sewer

LA Times  

Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y in Hawthorne on March 14, 2019. For anyone who wondered what the world’s richest man had in mind for one of the world’s most powerful social media platforms, the answer came around 5 a.m. when Musk tweeted out a link to a vicious and false conspiracy …

Looming elections in US, Brazil pose test for Musk’s Twitter
2 years, 2 months ago

Looming elections in US, Brazil pose test for Musk’s Twitter

Associated Press  

Pivotal elections in Brazil and the United States will present an early test to Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk and his promise to ease up on the platform’s policies on misinformation. “We’re going to see a test run with the election in Brazil this Sunday, when we’ll see how bad things get.” Even if Musk waits until after the elections …

After Elon Musk's £38bn Twitter takeover TOM LEONARD examines how to prevent left-wing echo chamber
2 years, 2 months ago

After Elon Musk's £38bn Twitter takeover TOM LEONARD examines how to prevent left-wing echo chamber

Daily Mail  

Elon Musk could scarcely have made his intentions clearer this week when news broke that, following a protracted legal wrangle, he had bought the social media giant Twitter. Musk, a libertarian who insists free speech is all-but absolute, seems determined to put a rocket up the technology industry's cosy progressive consensus. Clean out: Musk carries a sink into Twitter HQ …

The People Who Are Thrilled That Elon Musk Is Really Buying Twitter
2 years, 3 months ago

The People Who Are Thrilled That Elon Musk Is Really Buying Twitter

Slate  

After months of sabotaged commitments, legal back-and-forths, new public disclosures, agita over bot armies, and text-message dumps, the Elon Musk–Twitter debacle has officially circled right back to where it started. Donald Trump and the American right wing: No ideological group has been more pleased with Musk’s purported goals for Twitter than the American conservative movement, given Musk’s off-and-on criticisms of …

Column: Musk is the one who’s ‘flat-out stupid’ about Trump on Twitter
2 years, 7 months ago

Column: Musk is the one who’s ‘flat-out stupid’ about Trump on Twitter

LA Times  

Twitter is a private platform, with broad free speech rights. On Tuesday, he said that the company’s decision to ban Donald Trump in wake of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots had been “morally wrong” and “flat-out stupid.” He said that if his Twitter deal goes through, he would reverse the permanent ban. He’s called Twitter a “de facto town …

What to expect from a Musk-owned Twitter?
2 years, 8 months ago

What to expect from a Musk-owned Twitter?

Al Jazeera  

Will he restrict freedom of speech – despite his public promises – to root out crypto spam? It is doubtful Musk intends to defend the right of an individual to hawk diet pills online – yet that would be a consequence of his stated free speech policy. A Twitter in which everything lawful is permitted would quickly become a morass …

We need Twitter guardrails that protect lives and free speech
2 years, 8 months ago

We need Twitter guardrails that protect lives and free speech

Al Jazeera  

As one of the millions of Egyptians who took to the streets demanding “Bread, Freedom, and Social Justice” during the Arab Spring, I experienced firsthand the very best and the worst that Twitter has to offer. When Musk describes social media as a “digital town square” for public debate and asserts that “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning …

DC Edit | Musk’s Twitter policy unreliable
2 years, 8 months ago

DC Edit | Musk’s Twitter policy unreliable

Deccan Chronicle  

Where is Twitter headed under an ownership led by Elon Musk and banks? Having set the cat among the pigeons in claiming before making the offer to buy the microblogging site that he wished to restore its status as an absolute free speech platform, the world’s richest man may have backtracked just a bit by qualifying unfettered free speech as …

Op-Ed: Will Twitter survive Elon Musk? I’m sticking around to find out
2 years, 8 months ago

Op-Ed: Will Twitter survive Elon Musk? I’m sticking around to find out

LA Times  

I joined Twitter in April 2007, a year after its founding as a “microblogging platform.” I didn’t give much thought to my username. Business Elon Musk reaches $44-billion deal to buy Twitter The social media company approved the billionaire and avid Twitter user’s $44-billion bid after 11 days of back and forth Then I gave a conference talk — and …

In Perspective | Twitter under Musk: Absolute free speech won’t work
2 years, 8 months ago

In Perspective | Twitter under Musk: Absolute free speech won’t work

Hindustan Times  

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, said in his first reaction after sealing the deal to take over one of the world’s most influential social media companies. Musk, in quotes released by Twitter’s …

Elon Musk will bring Trump back to Twitter — and that’s just the beginning
2 years, 8 months ago

Elon Musk will bring Trump back to Twitter — and that’s just the beginning

The Independent  

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Twitter is …

Conservatives ecstatic about Elon Musk buying Twitter: ‘Time they get their comeuppance’
2 years, 8 months ago

Conservatives ecstatic about Elon Musk buying Twitter: ‘Time they get their comeuppance’

LA Times  

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, pictured in July 2021 in Wilmington, Del., has delighted Republicans with his planned purchase of Twitter. But he did tweet a congratulatory message to Musk, adding a plea to “restore free speech and bring back President Trump!” Trump was permanently kicked off the platform on Jan. 8, 2021 — two days after a group of his …

Elon Musk Is Right About Twitter
55 years ago

Elon Musk Is Right About Twitter

Wired  

The saga of Elon Musk attempting to take over Twitter began, appropriately, on Twitter. In late March, Musk tweeted, “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. His goal, he wrote, is to help Twitter realize its “potential to be the platform for free speech around the …

Elon Musk's threat to take over Twitter: Trolls — not "cancel culture" — are ruining discourse
2 years, 8 months ago

Elon Musk's threat to take over Twitter: Trolls — not "cancel culture" — are ruining discourse

Salon  

There's still a war going on between trollish billionaire Elon Musk and his favorite trolling platform, Twitter. Unfortunately, Musk has nearly unlimited funds to accomplish his dream of making the already insufferable social media network even more unbearably thick with right-wing trolls. The whole thing is a reminder that it's not "cancel culture" that is ruining American discourse, but the …

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